Jan.
9, 2001

Passengers

At the gate, I sit in a row of blue seats
with the possible company of my death,
this sprawling miscellany of people
carry-on bags and paperbacks

that could be gathered in a flash
into a band of pilgrims on the last open road.
Not that I think
if our plane crumpled into a mountain

we would all ascend together,
holding hands like a ring of skydivers,
into a sudden gasp of brightness,
or that there would be some common place

for us to reunite to jubilize the moment,
some spaceless, pillarless Greece
where we could, at the count of three,
toss our ashes into the sunny air.

It's just that the way that man has his briefcase
so carefully arranged,
the way that girl is cooling her tea,
and the flow of the comb that woman

passes through her daughter's hair . . .
and when you consider the altitude,
the secret parts of the engines,
and all the hard water and the deep canyons below . . .

well, I just think it would be good if one of us
maybe stood up and said a few words,
or, so as not to involve the police,
at least quietly wrote something down.

It’s the birthday of novelist Philippa Gregory, born in Nairobi,
Kenya (1954), who now lives in Hartlepool, England. She’s the author of a
trilogy of novels about the Laceys, a family of wealthy eighteenth-century
landowners. Wideacre (1987) was the first in the series.

It’s the birthday of Irish playwright Brian
Friel, born Bernard Patrick Friel, near Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern
Ireland (1929). He was working as a teacher in Londonderry, when his short
stories began appearing in the New Yorker. This early success encouraged
him to become a full-time writer. His first major play was Philadelphia,
Here I Come! (1964); since that time, he has written over two dozen plays,
including Translations (1980) and Dancing at Lughnasa (1990).

It’s the birthday of the 37th President of the United States, Richard
Milhous Nixon, born in Yorba Linda, California (1913). He ran for
president in 1960, and lost to John F. Kennedy by only 113,000 out of 69 million
votes cast. Two years later, he lost the race for governor of California and
announced that he was quitting politics, saying, “You won’t have Richard Nixon
to kick around any more.” But in 1968 he ran for President a second time,
this time defeating the Democratic nominee, Hubert H. Humphrey.

It’s the birthday of French writer and feminist Simone
de Beauvoir, born in Paris (1908). She’s the author of novels and
autobiographical works, including Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (1958),
but she is best known for her influential study of women in society, The
Second Sex (1949). Gloria Steinem said: “If any single human being can
be credited with inspiring the woman’s movement, it’s Simone de Beauvoir.”

It’s the birthday of the man who created “Blondie”Murat
Bernard (Chic) Young, born in Chicago (1901). The strip started in
1930 as the story of a playboy and his flapper girlfriend. After a year or
two, a manager at King Features approached Young with a suggestion. “Why don’t
you have them marry? You know more about married life than you do about dating
anyway.” Dagwood and Blondie were married on February 13, 1933, and Young’s
comedy of high society was recast in middle-class suburbia.

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Although he has edited several anthologies of his favorite poems, O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound forges a new path for Garrison Keillor, as a poet of light verse.
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